Portland

I don't have any pictures to post.

This week is all about Portland. I surprised Lonny for his 34th birthday with an airline ticket to Portland so he can have a guys weekend with his buddies. He really hasn't been able to do that since we've been married and I knew he was missing them. He had a great time with Bruce, Ira, Jason, Matt, Tim, Steve...etc. Thanks to Bruce and Ira for organizing the events!!!

Now that he's back, I'm going to Portland for business. I fly out tomorrow (Tuesday). Wednesday morning I have a meeting with a supplier to hopefully get new business for our company. Then Wednesday - Friday I'm attending the NCEO (National Conference of Employee Owned Companies). The company I work for, Daymon Worldwide, is employee owned. I was recently voted to be chair of our ownership committee. Milt, one of our founders (the other passed) never married and has no children so he is giving (or the shareholders are buying him out) us the company. He started to do this in 2001 and the associates will own over 50% of the business by July 2009. It's a big year for us. So I'm going to this conference to learn what other employee owned companies do to create an ownership culture. I'm looking forward to it.

Also while in Portland, I'm headed to my old office at the Fred Meyer headquarters. I have to give that team a presentation on Daymon's ownership and try to foster ownership behavior. It's always a fun presentation. Plus, I get to see my friends again. They are such great people, I can't wait.

If I have time I'm going to try to have dinner with Ira and another night with Nani. I'm not sure if I have time. I do want to see if I could go on a walk to the church where Lonny and I married. That'd be so cool. I think it's just down the street from my hotel. Plus, I need to ensure I get about 1 hour of exercise in a day.

So, I'll catch ya later after I get back from Portland. I just LOVE that city. I can't wait to hang there, just like old times.